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Dear Betsy, We have moved to a new apartment that is perfect for entertaining and I want to treat my friends to a really good, fun dinner party. I have not done much entertaining and although the cooking bit is not a problem for me, what tips can you give me to keep our guests entertained? I am dreading those dead silences and the thought that guests will be bored and leave early.
V. Worried
Dear V. Worried,
Well, you are already on the way to being a good hostess by planning in advance and thinking about entertainment.
The dinner party is making a big comeback in social circles, as many of us prefer intimate home-based socialising where we don't have to face up to busy, noisy, smoke-filled restaurants and where we can have privacy to revive the art of entertaining.
You could start by typing up a list of three home-made cocktails and mocktails to serve, and letting your guests choose what they fancy.
Keeping conversation going at a dinner party is not really that difficult if you have invited interesting guests and at least one 'wacky' guest to keep things moving.
Talking of moving, I like to ask the gentlemen to take their glass and napkin and move round a place after each course. This means everyone gets the chance to chat to everyone else, as no one wants to be stuck next to the 'bore' all evening, and it keeps things lively.
Dinner party games can be great fun. Depending on how many guests you have, you can try after-dinner scrabble, monopoly, (but limit the time or you could be there all night) card games, or that good old favourite, charades.
You can split larger numbers into teams to make it less time consuming.
Music is an essential ingredient and you should try to closely match this to the age of your guests.
Giving your dinner party a theme can make all of these decisions much easier and the current 'in' theme is a seventies retro dinner party.
Serve up those seventies classics like prawn cocktail, moules mariniere, shepherds pie, cheesy-topped fish pie, lemon meringue pie, Eve's pudding, pavlovas etc and get your guests to turn up in their flares and psychedelic patterned shirts and mini or maxi dresses!
Drinkies that are favoured are Mateus rose, blue nun, crme de menthe and, of course, Tequila Sunrises and Harvey Wallbangers!
With a theme like this you won't be stuck for conversation, just dust off your Slade, T Rex and Donna Summer records and you will be the hostess with the mostest!
Do you have any dinner party or entertaining tips that you would like to share with readers?
Email me at betsymathieson@hotmail.com
BETSY SAYS RELAX...
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